It wasn’t a classic but it was just what Southampton needed; a battling win against a Crystal Palace side that did little in the way of playing football.

Too often in games such as these we’ve made all the running only for set-pieces, long balls and defensive errors to hurt us.

Not this time.

In the first half, Adam Lallana ran the game and once again showed why he must start for England at the World Cup. His performance was magnificent and the main source of any moment of quality throughout the match.

He could grace the best XI of any Premier League team and I’m starting to get a little uneasy about the summer already. His future is vital to Saints and hopefully he can resist any potential move as he did when we plunged into administration back in 2009.

Although we don’t want to lose any of our stars, the Saints captain is the most indispensable player in the squad. He would be irreplaceable, no matter how much we were offered. Tottenham have been weakened without Gareth Bale despite receiving a world record transfer fee. So Lallana must stay – it’s as simple as that.

It was great to see Jay Rodriguez score the winner. He’s vastly underrated by virtually everyone, including Roy Hodgson it seems. He’s now scored 11 goals this season, so the man can finish. Pace and energy are also key attributes and I don’t get why he shouldn’t go to Brazil.

Defensively we were superb too. There was zero class or variety in Palace’s play, but Dejan Lovren and Jose Fonte dealt with anything that was thrown at them. They protected Artur Boruc brilliantly, as he only had one comfortable save to make in the whole game.

It’s going to be tough for Crystal Palace to survive (Picture: Getty Images)

I’d be seriously worried if I was a Palace fan though. I’m surprised that more people haven’t been talking about them going down.

They’ve got some tough games left and have got virtually no creativity at all in the side. I don’t see where their next goal is coming from and it’s a sign of where they’re at that Tony Pulis has pinned all his hopes on a returning Glenn Murray who hasn’t played for months.

Maybe home support can play its part, but I think Sunderland will overhaul them and it’ll be a tense final few games.

The only negative for Saints was an injury blow for Jack Cork. He’s been as solid as ever lately, and I must say that I’ve been unconvinced by Victor Wanyama since his summer arrival.

I don’t think he’s good enough on the ball and is too slow to fit into our fast-paced game, often getting caught in possession. But Cork’s bad luck gives him the ideal chance to prove the doubters wrong.

This victory over Palace showed that the players are still fighting and that’s the most important thing. We finally won against a side that doesn’t play football – a ghost I’m happy we’ve laid to rest.